CHAPTER FIVE
“WTF?”
Vernon Price smiled at the young couple from Maryland. He was a lean, gray man who radiated competence. “Okay. We’re twelve miles from Tweedy State Park where there’s a little lake. Or you can put into the James right here on the property. You can put in anywhere. We’re seeing a lot of kayakers around here lately.”
The young man handed Price his credit card. “Do you get HBO?”
“HBO, Showtime, every major league game, you name it, plus an extensive collection of movies on demand.”
Sudden movement drew Price’s attention to the window. Darling’s delicious dumpling ran barefoot and half-naked toward the office. A prickle of alarm marched down Price’s spine. Something in her desperate pumping told him she wasn’t exercising. He flashed an apologetic grin at the young couple.
“Folks, if you’ll excuse me one minute--it’s just one thing after another around here.”
The young man shrugged quizzically. “Sure.”
Price bolted from behind the counter and exited the front door, taking the three front steps in one leap. He had to intercept her before she reached the office. Whatever had happened was not for tourists.
Price jogged toward her, hands up, palms out, stopping her twenty meters from the main house under a dogwood tree. “Whoa, Sally, whoa! What’s going on?”
She collapsed into his arms wild-eyed, unable to speak, a peculiar smoky odor clinging to her skin. She gestured back down the road. Price looked up to see Day Lilly burst into flames. Poof, like a stunt out of Fast and Furious.
Gripping Sally by the shoulders, he marched her quickly to the nearest bungalow, Snapdragon, opened the unlocked door and led her inside. “Are you all right? Are you injured?” he said examining her carefully. She didn’t appear to be hurt, just stunned and in shock. Price sat her down on the bed.
He pulled out his secure phone, the one the agency had given him, and hit the speed dial. Seconds later a man picked up.
“Contingency and planning, Baumgartner speaking.”
“This is Vernon Price at Vern’s resort, retired Service Contractor serial number 879002LP. Do you know where this is?”
“Yessir. What seems to be the problem?”
“I have a cottage that’s burning out of control. Senator Sam Darling is trapped in the cottage.”
“Sir, I’m dispatching a rescue team with medical personnel and fire fighters but it will be…approximately seventy-five minutes before they arrive. Can you hold out?”
Price looked out the window at the bungalow, now completely engulfed in flames. Fortunately it was a hundred feet from the nearest structure and the humid summer meant little chance of the fire spreading. As Price watched, the young couple with the kayaks drove quickly away.
Nothing he could do about that.
It was all Price could do to stay put and not run for the fire extinguisher and the garden hose but he knew from painful experience they would be of little help against such a conflagration. Priorities. First order of business: control the narrative.
Price went into the bathroom and filled a glass with water. He came out and handed the glass to Sally who had curled up on the bed and was weeping. She sat up and drank thirstily. Price knelt before her.
“Sally, I know this is difficult but we have to get our stories straight before the police arrive. What happened?”
Sally looked up, mascara running from her eyes like mudslides. “He seemed a little jumpy when we drove out and in the cabin he seemed feverish--he was sweating and smoke was pouring from his mouth and ears.”
“What?”
“I know it sounds crazy! I swear to God he started smoking like a chimney! Then he blew up.”
Price knew who Sam was. And he knew who Sally was. With the fracking bill before the Senate next week it seemed unlikely the senator’s death was a coincidence.
The high wail of a first responder penetrated the bungalow. The Appomattox County Rural Fire Department was the first to arrive.
“Sally, can you stay in here until we get this straightened out? If they find out who was in the cabin there’s going to be a big media brouhaha.”
Sally swallowed and nodded. She knew how to play the game.
With a sigh Price went out to meet the fire department.
***